Japanese National Dental Surveys on Pre-school Children

Method: National data of pre-school children from 1957 to 2011 were analyzed.

Result:

• Prevalence of caries has improved from 1957 to 2011 in all age groups:16.9% -> 0%, 57.8% -> 7.5%, 81.8% -> 25%, 92.1% -> 34.8%, 94.5% -> 50% for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5-year-old children.
• žPrevalence of untreated dental caries has improved from 1957 to 2011 in all age groups: 16.9% -> 0%, 57.8% -> 7.5%, 81.7% -> 25%, 92.1% -> 23.9%, and 94.3% -> 46.7% for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5-year-old children.
• žThe mean dft has decreased from 1957 to 2011 in all age groups: 0.65 -> 0, 2.76 -> 0.2, 5.49 -> 0.63, 7.99 -> 1.5, 8.71 -> 2.77 for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5-year-old children.
• žThe percentage of children with experience of topical fluoride application were 19%, 58%, 59%, 65%, and 77% for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5-year-old children in 2011.

Conclusion: Overall oral health condition among Japanese children has been dramatically improving for last 54 years. There would be several reasons for the improvement. In Japan, local health centers provide oral health check-ups for 1.5 and 3 year-old children since 1961 and 1977. Other oral health promoting programs including education of mothers and topical fluoride application for pre-school children have been conducted under the Maternal and Child Health Law. These programs may have contributed to decrease dft and caries prevalence among Japanese pre-school children.